So, we were trying out a new gym class and I was talking to a beautiful, young, tall woman named Jenny. She was nanny to an almost 2 year old, Carson, who was smaller than Spenser, who is small for his age. At first, Jenny reminded me of me (certainly not the tall, young, beautiful part – well, maybe young, I used to be a young nanny) the way I was a nanny in my 20’s(and 30’s a little) – very caring and involved with my kids. She encouraged little Carson, told him to share when he wasn’t, reminded him of manners and gave him lots of kisses and hugs. She made me think she was his mom, until I overheard her say she was his nanny for the last month. But then, I saw she was a bit… over the top, for a nanny or a mom.

Carson was playing with his privates and Jenny said, loudly, “Do you have to go peepee?” Carson barely got out the word “yes,” when Jenny whisked him out of the gym room and into the lobby where, to my shock, she had a baby potty all set up. She pulled off Carson’s pants and sat him down, squatting right next to him.

Now… I’ve been around the kid world for many years and though I’m only beginning to potty train my own precious 2 year old, I’ve never seen anything like this. I’ve never seen anyone lug around a baby potty and then have the toddler urinate in front of everyone in public – just stop and drop kinda thing.  I’ve seen a mad rush to the bathroom, sure and I’m not saying it was horrible, just that it was odd and I’ve never seen it in all my nanning years. And the fact that this woman was doing it so boldly, in the lobby, was fascinating. It was like she owned the gym lobby. Was Carson’s mom very specific about the potty? Did she tell Jenny, it doesn’t matter where you are, if he has to go, pull out the potty and take off his pants?

Spenser was quite interested in the child going potty at gym class. All the kids were. I’ve actually been trying to up our potty time so I encouraged him to go watch Carson through the window. As one of the gym teachers went over to talk to Jenny (and tell her that peeing in the lobby isn’t part of their can do’s) Carson stood up. I did a double take. He had the largest child’s package I’ve ever seen. I was kind of in shock. I mean it was the size of a third of a hot dog. OK, maybe a quarter of one. Then she put big boy undies on him and he played at the gym in his underwear for the rest of class (I’m assuming he peed on his pants a bit.)

I don’t want to make this entry about some toddler’s package, so I’m not going to talk about it anymore (except to say that it’s just one of these things I keep thinking I must have not seen it correctly…. but I know I did.)

Do you think this method of potty training is normal?